(Photo: Kang Kim. Illustration by John Burgoyne.)

Super Bowl Sunday is no time to get creative in the kitchen. With the stakes so high this year, and with large, excitable gridiron types lurking about your living room, pounding their fists and stamping their feet, it’s best to stick to the four Super Bowl food groups—wings, chili, hero sandwiches, and chips and dip. For this last, we turned to Cipriano Pita, the Puebla-born chef who runs the tiny kitchen at the Upper East Side’s Bar @ Etats-Unis the way Eli Manning ran his offense last week, and whose guacamole technique is of a championship caliber.

The Bar @ Etats-Unis’ Guacamole

4 tablespoons white onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups fresh cilantro leaves, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon jalapeño, finely chopped (for medium-hot)
Sea salt to taste
3 ripe Hass avocados
Juice of one lime

In a medium-size bowl but preferably a molcajete, mash together the onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and salt to taste into a paste. (1) To pit the avocados, hold 1 in your hand and, using a chef’s knife, cut lengthwise around the seed. Twist the halves to separate. (2) Using a chopping motion, stick the knife firmly into the pit and twist it free from the avocado. (3) Scoop out the avocado flesh with a large spoon and add to the molcajete. Add the lime juice, and crush the avocado with the other ingredients until smooth but slightly lumpy. Serves 4.

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